The US has expelled South Africa's ambassador, described by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Friday post on X as "a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS." South Africa's presidential office on Saturday called the decision "regrettable," the BBC reports, and said the country still wants to have a good relationship with the US after Rubio announced "we have nothing to discuss with" Ebrahim Rasool.
The trigger for Rubio seemed to be remarks Rasool delivered remotely to a Johannesburg think tank earlier Friday. A Breitbart News article referred to in Rubio's post said Rasool accused Trump of "mobilizing" white supremacy in the US and abroad, per the Washington Post. The speech also mentioned Vice President JD Vance's support for Germany's right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, and Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration. Musk is a South African by birth who has also backed AfD and far-right movements elsewhere.
US-South Africa relations have been tense since Trump accused the government of confiscating land from white farmers. He signed an executive order in February freezing assistance to South Africa and accusing the government of "unjust racial discrimination"; South Africa denies the accusations. Trump has also invited white Afrikaners to come to the US as refugees. President Cyril Ramaphosa's statement Saturday urged everyone involved to maintain "the established diplomatic decorum," per NPR. (More Marco Rubio stories.)
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